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P is for 'politics': 10 political ‘Sesame Street’ moments

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s declaration of love for Big Bird during the first presidential debate Wednesday isn’t the first time “Sesame Street” has entered America’s political consciousness. Here are 10 other examples.

Former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot was spoofed in 1993 as a parrot puppet named H. Ross Parrot. But Perot the parrot didn’t champion political policies, opting for the alphabet instead.

In 2009, 'Sesame Street' re-aired an episode in which Oscar the Grouch acts as a angry news anchor on 'Pox News,' a parody of Fox News and described by one puppet as a 'trashy news show.' Some conservatives were outraged. 'I took Oscar personally,' Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly said on his show.

AP Photos

In response to Palestine’s bid for U.N. statehood in 2011, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen blocked $192 million in USAID funding to the West Bank and Gaza Strip — $2.5 million of which would’ve helped produce Palestine’s version of 'Sesame Street,' stalling its production.

In 2002, then-Rep. W.J. Tauzin (R-La.) and other Republican congressmen wrote a letter to PBS about their concern that an HIV-positive character on South Africa’s version of 'Sesame Street' would appear in America. The puppet 'Kami' never did, though she did appear in a PSA with former President Bill Clinton in 2006.

Mississippi’s Commission for Education Television banned 'Sesame Street' in 1970 because it depicted blacks and whites as equals, but it reversed its decision 22 days later.

In 2009, first lady Michelle Obama appeared on 'Sesame Street' to teach kids how to plant a garden, around the same time she planted her own at the White House. 'Veggies taste so good when they come from a garden,' she said on the program. (Other first ladies who visited 'Sesame Street' include Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.)

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats held a press conference in February 2011 to rally against proposed GOP cuts to PBS funding. 'The GOP should be less preoccupied with silencing Cookie Monster and more focused on reviving the economy,' Lowey said at the time.

Bert and Ernie’s sexual orientation came into question in August 2011, prompting 'Sesame Street' to dispel the rumors: 'Bert and Ernie are best friends.… Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.'

Responding to the country’s rising childhood obesity rates, PBS changed Cookie Monster’s diet in 2005, when he learned that cookies are a 'sometimes food.'

REUTERS

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared on 'Sesame Street' in February, teaching kids about her job and weighing in on a dispute between Baby Bear and Goldilocks.